To answer the first question about olive oil, I'm not sure what purpose it serves (except the tongue) but I would suggest adding it after opening if it is for the taste. It would spend less time this way floating on top of the contents of your jar and would eliminate the rancid issue (added at time of use). Oils also make jars harder to get a good seal on them. On the other hand, if you have a recipe that calls for browning of meat, I see no reason not to use lard. It is an animal fat and there is no prohibition on animal fat - hey, all the meat we can is full of it. In fact, most complain of canning chicken breasts and pork loin because the resultant meat contains too little fat and it is too dry. Pork shoulders are preferred because they contain more animal fat and are thus more moist when opened. Just a thought. By the way, if in filling your jars that you do splash some oily broth on the sealing surface of the jar, wipe it off with a clean paper towel with a little vinegar on it - it should wipe much cleaner (grease free) than simply wiping with a dry paper towel. Jim in So. Calif.

I use this one from Ann: Deluxe Chicken Enchiladas Source: Barbara Hansen's Mexican Cookery 2 whole chicken breasts chicken broth 1/2 small onion 1 bay leaf 8 peppercorns garlic clove salt 1/2 medium onion chopped 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese 1 4 oz can green chilies garlic 1 13 oz can tomatillos, drained 1/4 cup cilantro leaves 3/4 cup whipping cream 1 egg salt 1/4 cup lard or oil 8 corn tortillas 1 cup cheddar or Monterey Jack Cheese Guacamole 1 cup sour cream lettuce black olives . Place chicken in large pot and cover with chicken broth. Add onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt. Simmer until tender. Let cool in broth. Remove chicken and save broth for another use. Shred or cut chicken in to smaller pieces. Add chopped onion, Parmesan cheese and Monterey Jack Cheese. Taste and add salt if needed. Set aside. IN a blender or processor, combine green chilies, tomatillos, cilantro, whipping cream and egg and blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Heat lard in small skillet. With tongs, carefully place one tortilla at a time in hot lard. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds and drain on paper towels. You want the tortillas to be softened but not crisp. Place some of the chicken mixture on the tortilla and roll tightly. Place seam-side down in a baking dish. Pour cream mixture over the Enchiladas and sprinkle evenly with 1 cup of cheddar or Monterey cheese. Bake about 20 minutes or until heated through and bubbly. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, lettuce and olives. NOTE: I reduced the calorie count it by using 2% milk. Not as rich but still very good.

I use the recipe linked below for homemade enchilada sauce. It makes a really good sauce and you can easily regulate the heat by how much chili powder you use. My younger son doesn't like hot stuff and I put in a small amount of chili powder and he loves it. I have done different knids of enchiladas - chicken, beef, veggie - all using this sauce. I agree that the best thing you could have done was to throw out the sauce. It was WAY not worth going to more effort and expense to try to save it. Here is a link that might be useful: Epicuriousl Garden Vegetable Enchiladas

Here is my recipe for Yucatecan style Chicken chili - it is very similar to Cochinita Pobil, but with chicken instead of pork: Chicken Chili 6 chicken thighs or 1 chicken 2 limes, sliced rinds of 2 lemons, sliced 2 oranges, sliced (preferably green, but optional) 1 carrot, chopped 2 bay leaves 6 cups water 2 onions, cut in halves and divided 8 cloves garlic 3 dried Ancho chilies 2 dried Pasilla chilies 4 dried Guajillo chilies 1-2 dried Cayenne Chilies (optional) 2 tbsp oregano (divided) 1/3 cup flour 2 tbsp tomato paste 2 tbsp Achiote paste 1-1/2 tbsp vegetable soup base 1-1/2 tbsp chicken or turkey soup base cilantro, for garnish Wash the chicken and leave whole or cut into pieces. Place the lemon, lime, and orange slices in stockpot and add the chicken, carrot, bay leaves, and water. Add one onion and the garlic cloves. Slit open all the chilies and remove all seeds, and then add those to the pot, and bring to a boil on high heat. Put 1 tablespoon of oregano in a tea ball or bouquet garni and add to the pot. Reduce the heat to simmer and allow to cook covered for 40 minutes, or one hour if using a whole chicken. After one hour, turn off heat and allow the pot to stand covered for about 20-30 minutes more while the chicken continues to cook. Retrieve all the chilies and place in a small bowl with about 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. If possible, remove some of the peeling; otherwise purée them using a food processor or hand blender on low speed. Strain the purée through a food mill to remove the skin, and reserve the strained purée. Strain off the liquid from the stock pot and reserve. When the chicken is cool enough (you can refrigerate it at this point), remove all the meat and reserve. Save the bones and discard the bay leaves. Return everything else to the stock and boil for another hour with a 1/2 onion. Strain the stock and allow it to cool for a while. Then, using a fat separator, divide the stock from the fat. Reserve the stock, which should be about 4 cups or slightly more. Mince the remaining 1/2 onion. Add 1/3 cup of the skimmed fat to a large sauce pan over high heat. When the fat is hot, add the 1/2 cup flour and make a roux that is light brown or tan. Add the onion and cook about 1-2 minutes more, and then add 2 cups of reserved stock that has been defatted. Stir to combine, and add the tomato paste, one tablespoon of oregano, Achiote paste, and soup bases. Check for salt flavor and add more soup base if necessary. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until onions have cooked, and then purée with a stick blender (or food processor and return to saucepan). Chop the reserved chicken meat and add to the saucepan with 1/4 cup of chili paste that you have reserved (or about half of it). Stir to combine, and serve with tortillas or rice. *Note: You will have approximately 2 cups of stock and 1/4 cup of chili paste left over. This can be used to make a sauce for enchiladas or tamales. Here is my enchilada recipe, but I have not updated it for quite a while: Yucatecan Style Chicken Enchiladas 1 pound cooked (preferably poached) chicken or turkey meat, chopped 2 tbsp chicken fat (or combination of chicken fat, butter, olive oil) 1/4 cup flour 1/2 onion, finely chopped 2-3 Serrano peppers, minced (some seeds removed) 1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes 2 tbsp cumin 2 tbsp chili powder 2 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp vegetable soup base 1 tsp chicken soup base 2 tbsp achiote paste (ground annatto seeds) 1 cup chicken stock, as needed 14 corn tortillas If you have poached your chicken meat, you will have a nice broth to use for thinning the sauce later, and you will probably have chicken fat that you can use for the roux. I poach the chicken the day before and save the broth separately and extract the fat from the top of the broth. Chop the meat and set aside. If you have bones, you can add them to the broth and simmer for an hour or so. Melt the fat (or butter and oil) in a large saucepan, and add the flour to make a roux. When the roux is a pale brown, add the minced onion and cook a bit more so that the onion will become soft and the roux turns a light brown. Then add the peppers and stir to combine. Add the canned tomatoes, including all the liquid, and blend. Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano, soup bases (in place of salt), and achiote paste. Stir until blended. Reduce the heat and add sufficient chicken stock or water to make a thick sauce. Using a stick blender, purée until fairly smooth, or at least until tomato pieces are fully incorporated – you may have some onion pieces that do not get puréed, but this is okay. Remove about 1/3 of the sauce to reserve and add the chopped chicken or turkey meat to the rest of the sauce. Spoon about 2-3 tbsp of the reserved sauce into a 6”x10” (or similar size) baking dish, and spread fairly evenly, along the bottom and sides. Heat the tortillas on a covered plate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, turning them and restacking them so that the center ones are top and bottom. Once they are soft, spoon a bit of chicken filling into a single tortilla, roll it into shape, and place it in the baking dish. You can stack them tightly or else make two loose layers. If you make two layers, put a bit of reserved sauce in between the layers. At the end, add all remaining sauce to the top and spread evenly. Add grated cheese, if desired. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 360° for 20 minutes, or until they are hot. I am not Norwegian, but I do have Swedish ancestry from my Prussian ancestors who colonized Prussia from Sweden. Lars is also fairly common in Germany, and my ancestors considered themselves German. Lars